One of our new arctic animal activities was visualizing how big (and small!) some of the animals that live in the arctic really are! We did this math activity with mixed ages, and our older kids were very sweet about giving the younger ones a chance to measure too!
The only supplies you need are rulers and the measurements of some arctic animals (which I have for you below)! You can either copy down the list of measurements or just print off the Arctic Animals Mini Poster below! I did start out our lesson with a globe to compare our location with the arctic.
It's important to keep in mind that most of these numbers are the maximum sizes. In real life, animals (and people) come in a huge variety of sizes! The room we were measuring in was only 24 feet long, for example, so we said that the whole room represented an orca...though the kids were a little put out that we couldn't measure the whole 25 feet! It happened to be basically the same length as five kids stretched end to end with their arms and legs out (ignore the dog...he wasn't part of the calculations, but he sure wanted in on the action)!
We used painter's tape to mark the animal sizes, and measured some along the ground (like the whales) and some along the walls (like the polar bear and reindeer). It's a little crazy to stand next to a wall and imagine a polar bear 5 or 6 feet taller than you!
Here are the animal sizes:
Polar Bear Height: 10 feet (when standing on hind legs)
Orca Length: 25 feet
Narwhal Length: 17 feet (including a tusk up to 8 feet long!)
Reindeer Height: 6 feet (antlers can add up to another 4 feet!)
Muskox Height: 5 feet
Snowy Owl Height: 2 feet (wingspan is 5 feet!)
Arctic Fox Height: 12 inches
Lemming Height: 3 inches (about 6 inches long)
** All heights and lengths are approximate...just like humans, animals come in different sizes! :)
There are lots of other arctic animals--these are just the ones I chose! You can always have a brain-storming session with you kiddos and pick other animals to measure! Preschoolers know an amazing number of arctic animals!!
Do you have a favorite arctic animal? Are you doing an Arctic Animals Theme with your preschoolers (or older kids!)? If so, be sure to check out my Arctic Animals Theme here!! It has free printables, games, literacy activities, and more!
Happy Educating,
Carla
I may share at any of these parties!
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